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Topic: Interactive Fiction 101 (Read 366 times)

emmapeel1601
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Interactive Fiction 101
« Thread Started on Jun 19, 2003, 12:50pm »

The following thread is intended to provide an example of how to approach interactive fiction, the basics of posting (when multiple characters are involved in a single thread) and the general mechanics of interacting.
There will be examples of what not to do (labeled as BAD in the subject line) as well as “proper” posts (labled GOOD).
I plan to write this in several sections so look for future updates.

INTRODUCING CHARACTERS, LOCATIONS AND SETTING THE STAGE

If you haven’t already posted a chapter about a character it’s usually best to provide some sort of introduction to give the readers a feel for who this person is. For example:

Billy Bob was the son of a preacher man. Which was why, perhaps, his whole life he’d been drawn, as though by a magnet, to the seedier side of life. Gambling was his life. And not just any kind of gambling. He preferred the kind where the sheep were fleeced and he went home a rich man at the end of the evening. Yes, in addition to being a straight up addict to any game involving cards and money, Billy Bob was a card shark.

This is how to introduce a character. It doesn’t have to be detailed or long. But from just these few lines we already know a bit about this character.

Now introduce the location. For example:

The bar itself was rather sleepy tonight. In the corner a few habitual drunks nursed their mugs of beer and mumbled about cheating wives, lousy bosses and leaky roofs. But at the poker table things were hoppin’. There was a business convention of some sort at the hotel up the street and naturally the attendees had come looking for a bit of relaxation after a long day in discussions over abstract financial theories.

Now, the last step is to leave the storyline at a point where another writer can join in. For example:

Billy Bob smiled and lit a thin cigar. Financial theory, he thought smugly. It wouldn’t do those fat cats across the table any good here. Here it was all about instinct and timing.
“You gentlemen ready to play?”
There was a chorus of agreement and he settled in to win.

This is a good place to pause your storyline. Some one else can now join in without interrupting the flow of your story but they also know exactly what Billy Bob is doing. He’s busy playing cards. He’ll be sitting at that table until there’s no one left to play against or he’s broke. Since the latter is unlikely to happen we can assume he’ll be there for a while.

NEXT TIME:
Entering an existing storyline.

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We long for simpler days when heroes could be good, evil could be killed and the line between wasn’t faded and despised. And we must choose to let our hearts cloud and fail or fight the stilling of our souls in these weary days.

emmapeel1601
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GETTING INVOLVED IN AN EXISTING STORYLINE
« Reply #1 on Jun 19, 2003, 4:09pm »

Okay, let’s say you want to get involved in a storyline started by someone other than you. What do you do?

First off let’s talk about locations. Say your character is on Jupiter and the storyline you want to get involved with is on Mars. You have to a) figure out why your character would be going to Mars and b) remember that it takes a little while to travel between planets.

So, here’s a little nugget of advice. One of the best ways to get involved with another character is….
CONTACT THE OTHER WRITER! Tell them you want to be a part of their story and could they please help you figure out how to get started.

But let’s say that your character is already on Mars and she has a good reason to be looking for Billy Bob. (i.e. He’s a known criminal with a bounty on his head.)

So, your introduction into the storyline might go something like this. For example:

I’m not really a hooker, but I play one on TV. Heh. That’s a little inside joke. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. A hooker.

Men, you see, are fools. All too often they think with the organ between their legs instead of the one in their skull. That’s a weakness. One that I use to my advantage. I’m a Cowboy, you see. Or, as I prefer to call myself, a Cowgirl. That’s a bounty hunter for those of you not wise in the ways of the world.

As soon as I walk into the bar every eye is on me. Even the drunks in the corner perk up a bit. But one man just glances up, nods once in a polite but vague sort of way and turns his attention back to the business at hand, which for him is poker. This is guy I’m looking for. His real name is Billy Bob but he’s like a man who can’t settle down, only instead of a different woman every night it’s a different name for every bar.

After collecting a rum and coke from the barkeep I make my way over to the poker table and settle into the nearest chair, which just happens to be occupied.

“You don’t mind, do you, darlin’?” The business man gapes up at me with a mouth as big as a cod. Deftly I slide his cards out of his hand and take a look at them. “Whose turn is it now?”

So, here’s a look at how you might have inserted yourself into the storyline. If Jo-Jo (the Cowgirl) were a little less flamboyant you might have chosen to have her sit at the bar and wait for the poker game to wind down. But it’s more like her to go ahead and just plunge right in and mix things up.

At the end of her chapter she’s posed a question, an opportunity for Billy Bob to respond and thus the interaction is all set to go.

NEXT TIME:
The mechanics of interactive posts and “clamming.”

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emmapeel1601
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THE MECHANICS OF INTERACTIVE POSTS
« Reply #2 on Jun 19, 2003, 11:24pm »

All right, so you have two characters in the same place, at the same time. And they’re talking to each other. Now what?

Well, the idea for interactive fiction is kind of like an RPG (by this we mean role-playing game, not rocket propelled grenade.) Each character gets one action (more or less) and then it’s the other person’s turn. I’m going to give you some examples of this in a moment but first let’s talk about “quoting.”

It’s sometimes helpful to repeat what Billy Bob said in his chapter in Jo-Jo’s chapter. However, if you decide to “quote” what another writer has said, whether it’s a description or dialogue, you need to use a different color text to distinguish the other writer’s work from your own. This helps keep clear who’s doing what and when.

Now, if you’re telling about the same event or action from a different perspective you may choose to use your own words instead. In this case you don’t need to change the color of the text, even if the action was written by the other author.

I’m going to make a couple of separate post following this one to give both good and bad examples of how to takes turns with the action.

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emmapeel1601
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BAD: BILLY BOB TAKES CONTROL
« Reply #3 on Jun 19, 2003, 11:27pm »

Billy Bob knew from the moment she walked into the bar that she was after him. It’s not something he could explain, exactly, but he knew she was a Cowboy. It was obvious that every man in the room was under her spell and he had no doubt most of them would kill for her if she asked them to.

He chewed on the end of his cigar unhappily and watched as she sashayed her way across the floor to sit in the lap of one of the businessmen.

“You don’t mind, do you, darlin’?” she said plucking the cards from his hands. She flashed a smile at Billy Bob. “Whose turn is it now?”

“None of your business,” he says and flips the table over in her face. Confusion breaks out immediately and Billy Bob takes the opportunity to dash out the back door.

“Hold it right there!” He freezes as the woman fires a warning shot past his head. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

Billy Bob turns as the woman approaches him and when she gets within reach he grabs the gun from her with one hand and punches her with the other.

Okay, so let’s take a look at what went wrong with this post

We’ll start with the first paragraph. While you might actually happen to have a character who can “sense” when someone is after them there is nothing in Jo-Jo’s post to say that she is doing anything out of the ordinary (for a hooker anyway). Which mean the she’s doing nothing that would clue someone else in to the fact that she is indeed a cowboy. It would be better to say that Billy Bob sees her as a dangerous woman (which she is and can be picked up from the way she’s described) and is suspicious because he sees her as a woman with an agenda.

Okay, Billy Bob turns the table over and races out the door. This is bad just because it’s extremely sudden and not particularly like the man we were introduced to in the first chapter. And it doesn’t give the other writer a chance to respond.

All right, the last two paragraphs. This is referred to as “clamming,” an odd word with somewhat unknown origins that basically means you’re writing someone else’s character for them. This is a big no-no. If you post something that does this it will be deleted without warning.

There are exceptions to this. If, say, you had a big fight between to characters you might want to speed things up a bit. For example:

WRITER 1: Billy Bob races into the alley the flamboyant woman close behind him. She fires a warning shot and he skids to a stop. “You don’t think you’ll take me that easy, do you?”

WRITER 2: I toss my hair back out of my eyes with a smile. “Of course I do, darlin’. Unless you’re one of those men who likes it rough.” I sidle a little closer, expecting him to try something. But I’m not quite ready for him anyway. He grabs my gun hand and SOCKO! His fist is grinding against my jaw.

In this case both writers have agreed on a course of action for the characters and the outcome. They’ve also agreed to split the task of writing, but make it something readable. However, if you make an arrangement like this you need to put CHARACTER (insert name) MOVED WITH PERMISSION to indicate that you aren’t “clamming” but working in cooperation.

NEXT TIME:

Things done right for a change.

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emmapeel1601
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GOOD: SHOWDOWN AT THE POKER GAME
« Reply #4 on Jun 19, 2003, 11:57pm »

Note: I've used different colors here to designate what would normal be seperate posts.
As soon as the woman walked in the door she had the attention of every man in the room. Billy Bob looked up from his cards for a moment to see her staring straight at him. He gave a slight nod and turned his attention back to his cards with a feeling of misgiving.

The stranger was tall, blonde and full of curves. Just exactly the kind of woman Billy Bob’s daddy had warned him to stay away from. Now, his daddy had been wrong about many things, but he had always been right about women. The thing about women that they don’t like to admit is that deep down they’re just like men. They always want what they can’t have. So, naturally the blonde headed straight for the poker table, fixing the focus of her considerable…charm on Billy Bob.

“Whose turn is it now?” She smiled at him with lips that were redder than red.

Billy Bob swallowed hard. When in this sort of situation a man has two choices. He can either stand his ground and take his chances or do the sensible thing and flee before anyone gets hurt.

“It’s yours,” he says. “I fold.”

This was something I hadn’t expected. Whether he had recognized me for my true profession or whether his momma had simply raised him right, my mark was quickly leaving.

“Sorry, boys. I have to run.”

Billy Bob was half-way down the alley when he heard footsteps on the pavement behind him. He turned and saw the hooker running after him, a small but competent weapon in her hand. She wasn’t a hooker, he realized belatedly, but a Cowboy.

The bounty-head nearly gives me the slip, but I catch up with him in the alley. He turns around when he hears my high-heels clicking on the pavement. I see the flash of recognition in his eyes, but I’m not giving him a chance to act on it. “Hold it right there,” I say, training my gun on him. No more canned meat for me, I think happily. Lady Luck has smiled on me tonight.

All right, I think this should give you a good example of how interactive fiction should play out. Even when the chapters don’t overlap the writers aren’t contradicting each other or writing each other’s characters.

Now you might notice that some things are inferred from one post to another. Take for instance Jo-Jo running after Billy Bob down the alley. She doesn’t actually say in her previous post where she’s going. But we can assume that when she says “I’ve got to run” she’s following Billy Bob.

This brings up an important point. It’s always a good idea to read through the other writer’s posts several times before you write your response. You don’t want to overlook something that’s important to the action and knowing exactly what the other writer said will help you fill in any possible gaps without stepping on their toes.

The bottom line, stay in communication with whomever you are writing with. You don’t have to have the whole story planned out to the smallest detail but you do need to know where everyone expects their character to be when everything is said and done.

NEXT TIME:
Combat: The Dos and Don’ts

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emmapeel1601
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GETTING’ DOWN AND DIRTY : THE ABC’S OF INTERACTIVE
« Reply #5 on Jun 23, 2003, 12:59am »

So now you want to fight and you may be wondering if there are any special rules involved. The answer is no. There are, however, a few things you will want to keep in mind.

First off, how does it all end? This is a very important question that should be answered before beginning a fight. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because characters get hurt in fights and on rare occasions even die. Knowing whether Billy Bob or Jo-Jo is going to be the last one standing will make a huge difference in how the writers approach a fight. Again, this doesn’t mean you have to plan out every last detail, but if you expect your character to be alive when the dust settles the other writer needs to know that.

This brings me to my next point. Getting hurt. With very, very few exceptions, no character should walk away from a fight unscathed. (I am, by the way, talking about a fist/knife/club/or-other-non-projectile-weapon fight. Gun fights are a little different, in that characters are usually a good distance apart and won’t necessarily get hurt.) Remember that this is a universe based in a certain amount of reality. If a character gets punched in the face it’s reasonable to expect they will have a broken nose, bloody lip or black eye.

Okay. So you and another writer are posting a fight between your characters and it looks something like this.

WRITER 1: Billy Bob balls his hands into fists and throws a punch.

WRITER 2: The bounty-head is fast but I dodge his punch. Obviously not a gentleman! I kick at his shins with my pointy-toed high-heels.

WRITER 1: Acting on instinct, Billy Bob steps back, narrowly avoiding a swift kick to the knee. He scowls. This Cowboy is obviously no lady! He begins to circle her, looking for an opening.

All right. First let me say that if this is the way you want to write interactive combat there is nothing wrong with that. This is a perfectly acceptable way to write combat between characters written by different writers.

However, you might want to try a co-operative post. What is a co-operative post? It’s a post written by both writers but posted as a single chapter/segment. Usually one writer would start a segment, then email it to the other writer who would add to it, email it back, etc. Once the details had been filled in and tweaked to both writers satisfaction it would then be posted as a single post. While this is not a requirement, some authors may find it easier than doing a blow by blow sequence of posts.

One last note on interactive combat. If you have multiple characters in the same place you don’t have to go in a strict turn-based sequence. You can post “simultaneously” if you want. But keep an eye on the other characters. You don’t want to finish a fight before another writer has a chance to join in. Some writers take more time to produce posts than others do. Just because someone doesn’t respond right after you make a post doesn’t mean they won’t.

Well, that concludes our “tutorial.” Again, any questions you may have that haven't been addressed may be directed either to one of the Moderators or posted under General Discussion.

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